The End of the Renaissance 75France. The latter decided to press his dubious claim to the throne of
Naples, encouraged by the Sforza family of Milan, the enemy of Naples. In
response, Naples allied with Florence and Pope Alexander VI (pope 1492
1503), himself a Florentine member of the Borgia family, against Milan.
In 1494, Charles VIII invaded the Italian peninsula with an army of
30,000 men. His French cavalry, Swiss mercenary infantry, and Scottish
bowmen tore through northern Italy. In Florence, the Medici ruler handed
over Pisa to France in exchange for leaving. This angered Florentine republi
cans. When the French army entered Florence, the Florentines drove the
Medici from power (after sixty years of rule). The new Florentine govern
ment, establishing the Great Council as a legislative assembly, contributed
to the city’s artistic splendors by commissioning works of art that symbolized
republican independence and ideals. Leonardo and Michelangelo painted
scenes of Florentine military victories for the meeting hall of the Great
Council. Seven years later, the city government commissioned Michelan
gelo’s great statue David. Michelangelo’s conscious imitation of a Donatello
bust of the same name from early in the fifteenth century referred back to
the republic’s successful resistance to challenges at that time.
In the meantime, the army of Charles VIII moved toward Naples, devas
tating everything in its path. It marched into the city to cheers from
Neapolitans who opposed the harsh taxes that had been levied by their
rulers. But an anti-French coalition that included King Ferdinand of
Aragon—whose dynastic territories included Sicily, Venice, and the Papal
States—and the Holy Roman emperor rallied to defeat the French forces.
Although the French army left the Italian peninsula, the city-states’ troubles
had only just begun.
In Florence, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498), a charismatic Domini
can monk who had predicted the French invasion, opposed both the
Medici in Florence and the papacy on the grounds that both were worldly
and corrupt. He had welcomed Charles VIII of France as “an instrument in
the hands of the Lord who has sent you to cure the ills of Italy,” including
the sinfulness of the Florentines. With the Medici driven from power,
Savonarola took virtual control of the Florentine republic. His denuncia
tion of abuses within the Church led to his excommunication by Pope
Alexander VI. Savonarola also incurred the enmity of patrician families by
appealing for support to all ranks of Florentine society. With the pope’s
blessing, Savonarola’s enemies first hanged and then burned him—the
penalty for heresy—in 1498.
The next year, Louis XII (ruled 1498-1515), the new king of France,
invaded the Italian peninsula, intent on making good his claim on the duchy
of Milan. He did so with the support of the corrupt Pope Alexander VI, who
wanted French assistance as he tried to solidify papal territorial claims, as
well as to look after the extended interests of his children. To encourage the
French king, the pope annulled Louis’s marriage, so that he could marry his